Emergency Evacuation plan

With large livestock, horses, donkeys and even some smaller animals like goats and sheep when one has too many which for some can be impossible to haul any where..they paint some ID marker on them on both sides. Even with tags it can help get them home after a disaster. When hurricanes hit Texas shores..many animals were misplaced. It did help get them home. Always open gates so animals natural instinct to find safety is possible. Some reported drowned animals because they couldn't get away. Like you said ..there are different disasters but this is what many do here during hurricane threats.
Having a safe haven is always a great option for smaller or fewer animals. Hay and feed should supply food for at least a week maybe 2 if able. A medicine box for on the go to Penicillin, b complex, probiotics, tetanus antitoxin, vet wrap, banamine, to name a few things good to have in emergency situations. Water can be an issue if it's poor due to conditions..so filters would be best for that...so most any water source can be used. It's good you are thinking way ahead and planning!!

Definitely good points to consider. It's great that your family has a plan. Scrambling to come up with a plan once the emergency happens makes a stressful situation even worse.

Last summer we had just moved onto our new property when we had to evacuate a wildfire. It happened really fast. Between our horse trailer and the vehicles we were able to take all our animals, but obviously with a large number of livestock it would be a challenge.

The power was knocked out area wide, no cell service. We didn't know the roads very well yet, and the highway was closed the way we needed to go. Luckily we had people nearby who did know the roads. They had a friend out of the way of the fire who offered to take in our animals. They brought hand held radios, so we were able to communicate between vehicles, stay together, and take the back ways to get out.

A lot of lessons learned, thankfully it turned out ok.

My area has an emergency animal rescue team that concentrates on livestock. They've got a few different venues in the area lined out for emergency use depending on where the emergency strikes. They also have connections to get hay and bedding since most people won't be able to bring enough with them. The state fairgrounds in Pueblo and several arenas in our area have offered their facilities as emergency housing during disasters. Your area might have something similar and if so it can be helpful to get involved and work with the team members so you know the people and facilities involved. If your area doesn't have an emergency livestock evacuation team, it would probably be worth trying to start one. The team here has meetings every so often to go over what to do in different types of emergencies, inventory their supplies, and discuss how to house, feed, and handle different types of livestock. I've tried to be involved but unfortunately their communication relies mostly on text messages and Facebook and I don't have a cell phone or Facebook so I often get left out of the loop. However, it's good to know who I can contact if the need arises.

I've also talked with my neighbor a few times over the years about emergencies. He has a big ranch and a lot of trailers. I've spoken to him about possibly evacuating my animals with his in the event that I don't have enough trailer space. I'd be able to take either my horses or my goats in one trip but not both together. I've also discussed with him the possibility of turning my horses loose in one of his huge 1000 acre pastures where I know they could get away from wildfire (which is our #1 concern). Having a network of other people to work with can sure be helpful in a bad situation.

Here (South Louisiana) they usually open up any livestock or animal venues. The local animal expo center (Lamar Dixon) has been great, parts of the local racetracks and LSU offer space & pens, also. Southern University Ag center also opens. They usually help you set up your trailer as a base with portable pens if you have a good trailer. Some animals go into the barns.I know a goat raiser who has a reciprocal agreement with another goat farm and, depending which way the threat is coming from, they trailer all the animals to whoever's place is safer, then kick back for a hurricane party! From personal experience during the 2016 floods: my goats would not leave their shelters to go to high ground. All had easy access to safety but were more worried about getting rained on than the fact that they were neck deep in water. One buck who generally hangs out on the roof of his house, would not come out of his house in the rain. When I got to him only his muzzle was above water. I lost every goat under 18 months except one who, while getting washed away, managed to get on the hood of the tractor (the only part above water). I managed to swim the rest to high ground (only 200 feet away) except one doe. I swam her out but when I turned her loose, she went back into the water to go back to the shed. She was washed away. All the pregnant does went into premature labor and slipped their kids within the next 24 hours. I fought ob/gyn infections for the next year and didn't have many healthy babies until around 2019. The buck who wouldn't come out, i had to swim to him, duck him under the water and roll him to get him through the door (big horns). He lived but never really was healthy after that and I put him down the following winter as he was constantly battling respiratory issues and pneumonia.